BBQ-F

The BBQ-f is a collaborative project together with 7 other designers. The BBQ-F recycles trash to create new products.

The inspiration for this project came from visiting the Vroezenpark in Rotterdam. During the summer this park is full of people that are barbecuing. However at the end of the night the park is left behind, completely filled with thrash. The goal of our project was to encourage people to put their thrash in the bin. We didn’t want to approach this idea the traditional way by making signs that tell people to clean after themselves but we wanted to to change their behaviour in a fun way.

For our research we started of by collecting all the different types of trash and saw that it is mainly coals, plastics and paper. These were the main materials we wanted to work with.

The machine we ended up building is called the BBQ-f, BBQ-factory or BBQ-fun. With this machine we encourage people to put the trash in the bin by giving them something back. With the BBQ-F we can melt plastic with coals and paper to make small plates, stools and other items they could use during the barbecue. This way people get a direct reward for their behaviour.

In the summer of 2014 the BBQ-f went to Oerol festival in the Netherlands. There we melted the plastics into small souvenirs for people to take home.